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Upgrading your luxury home to a smart home is a smart move. With the advent of the “internet of things”, it is possible for your home to be connected in a way it could never before be. These upgrades make your home efficient and convenient, and they’re definitely attractive to buyers. In fact, luxury home buyers have come to expect that homes they look at will be smart homes.

But how do you get started? You can definitely start small with some of the more easy and affordable upgrades, and work your way up from there. Here are some top five suggestions of easy upgrades you can make with our help.

Thermostats
Although programmable thermostats have been around for more than 50 years, newer smart thermostats do the thinking for you. They sense whether you are at home or away from home, and adjust your home temperature accordingly. At a cost of around $250, these smart thermostats save you almost as much per year in electricity use.

Lighting
Roughly 10 percent of an electric bill goes to the cost of lighting your home. Smart lighting includes sensor systems to turn on lights when you walk into a room, or dimmer switches for certain times of the day. These systems are controlled by your smart phone, and include outdoor lighting as well to increase security and make your luxury home beautiful all at the same time.

Door Locks
Smart door locks work with Wifi or Bluetooth to allow you to unlock your door with your smartphone. The locks can be programmed to allow certain family members or friends to access your home. You’ll never have to worry about losing your keys again—just don’t lose your phone!

Smoke Detectors
Smart smoke detectors are a great safety feature that can save you money on your insurance premium, since most home fire fatalities happen when smoke detectors are broken or even missing. These detectors monitor smoke, carbon dioxide and air quality, to distinguish between a fire and normal cooking smoke. They’ll even send a signal to your smartphone when you’re away from home.

Sprinklers
If you cringed when you paid your last water bill, you’re not alone. Regular lawn watering in hot climates uses a lot of money, so smart programmable sprinklers can save you significant costs—anywhere from 30 to 65 percent on your water bill. The devices automatically adjust your watering to account for the season and rainfall and best of all you can control it from your smart phone.

Our company currently offers these smart upgrades and many more for our luxury home clients. We will provide a free consultation for smart home planning. For more info or for upgrades to your home contact us direct.

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Last year, One of my real estate agent friends who is also an aspiring Hollywood producer and through his networking introduced me to a top production group on the Universal lot!

After a tour of the lot, we discussed the film business and the financing and investment in films they were producing.

This didn’t lead to any actual investments, but one year later, in February, my agent friend re-introduced me to this group and after a short consultation in his office, we submitted the application package for pre-approval for a hard money rehab loan which I knew we’d get back asap because my partners and I had an established relationship with the private lender who funded the loan.

My client identified a fantastic but dated remodel candidate in Malibu with a breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean! The property had been on & off the market since 2015 & it was clear that since the previous buyers fell out of escrow the sellers & agents were uneasy about the whole private funding offer and funding.

I knew that I only had one shot to get it right!

He negotiated a $2M purchase price, our contracting team submitted a $450K rehab budget, with a 4-5 month timeline.

We ordered the ARV appraisal, after a week, it came back at $3.6M!

The case and the borrowers were nearly a perfect candidates, except for one thing: They had no experience rehabbing high-end luxury properties, so the lender required us to join the borrower on the loan and sign as co-guarantor’s of the investment! This was unprecedented!

We entered into a project management & joint venture agreement with my borrowers which afforded them maximum leverage on their $500k down-payment. We were able to secure 2-4 months of interest payments so that wasn’t a concern.

The plan is to refinance after the remodel is complete, payoff the hard money bridge loan @ 9.9% and 4 points, 90% of purchase & 100% of rehab, into a 30 yr, fixed rate mortgage with cash out if needed for further future investments.

We closed this loan in about 30-40 days, but this was because the property was occupied by a seller who needed extra time to vacate before we closed escrow.

We will begin rehab this week & documenting our progress as we’ll be using exclusive, new “smart home upgrades” which I’m not at liberty to disclose yet due to its status.

Our motivation to JV was based on the profit potential and deal viability as well as the borrower’s financial position and excellent credit score & profile. Also even though they were not experienced, they handled the first time investor duties with poise and we were impressed with their willingness to learn the process. Overall they were very pleasant and easy to work with!

If you have a project you’d like to joint venture on, contact me below!

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This year one of my goals is to become an even larger resource for the Fix and Flip & Investor Community. After 16 years of service in this industry, we connect investors to lenders and private funding programs nationwide.

After reviewing these new loan offers and working with dozens of lenders, I compiled this list of lenders to refer to interested parties.

I hope you enjoy!

-Greg

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In September 2017, I received a referral from a Real Estate Agent colleague in San Diego, his friend in Cleveland Ohio needed funding for a property that purchased for cash back in July 2017 for $80,000 cash. They purchased the property to be used for a special needs daycare center (special use)

While using personal funds to finance a total interior remodel, they demo/gutted the inside of the property, with this being their first project, they were not prepared for the unexpected expenses that presented themselves.

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Their rehab was north of $60,000.

They purchased the property for cash, so the equity should available, right?

In simple terms, yes – but because of these factors the marketability of a potential loan became more difficult:

Location of the asset

Asset type (special use) not just a regular tenant rental, it’s residential used as a business.

Value of Asset (As-Is value was only $75K) most fix/flip hard money loan minimums are $150k

This was a long-term Hold, but lenders who offer long-term financing at reasonable rates will only loan to stable assets, so she needed a two-step solution.

Gutting the property destroyed the chances of simply cash-out refinancing because the lender immediately required an appraisal inspection!

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Challenges:

Getting a lender to approve the refinance knowing the borrower has no previous history of completing rehabs.

Getting a lender to approve the loan knowing the borrower has no reserves! They underestimated their rehab, and needed the funds to complete the renovation. How will they repay the loan?

Developing an exit strategy for the fix/flip loan included adding a co-signor, who also needed to be added to the business LLC.

Solutions:

We applied in the name of the LLC with a very well-known lender, the rate was higher than we preferred, but the points were reasonable and they provided the requested cash-out to complete the rehab and reserve 12 months’ worth of interest payments so she didn’t have to worry about that. Everything was going smoothly, we had title complete, ARV appraisal came in at $160K!

The following days we had a term sheet with $15,000 cash to close as a condition? This included points, closing costs and reserves requirement! The proposed loan amount was $80,000, so I convinced her that we needed to raise the funds from somewhere!

Her father stepped up earlier in the process to qualify for the exit loan as a co-borrower, he has a 700+ fico score. To qualify for the 7.5% rate with 30 yr. fixed or 7/1 ARM with 30-day refi seasoning, you need to have a solid 660+ Fico. I offered to help them land unsecured funding to deposit to their business account to show reserves, they weren’t happy about paying the fees or the unexpected panic to perform, but reluctantly applied for and received $90k+ in personal unsecured funding from 6 different vendors.

We were ready to close the loan, when the lender suddenly backed out, saying that the DSCR was just short of qualifying?! They didn’t have they act together, it was a gross error from the underwriting team, and my account rep couldn’t get the exception approved.

It was heart-breaking. Three weeks were spent. Now it’s mid-October, in Ohio they are facing the bitter Mid-West snowy winter, and she can’t afford to slow down on the rehab..

She was blessed to have the cards to take care of expenses, however, because the cards came in her dad’s name, it wasn’t easy to convince them to let the cards go! Her parents feared that she would rack up unsecured debt that she couldn’t pay down. Ultimately destroying her father’s credit.

My team and funding partner located her a great loan, they agreed to take the rehab bid we put together, ARV appraisal, title work and loan package, it was already packaged and should’ve been a slam-dunk!

She used the credit card she received to pay a small application fee, and they announced a closing date. Unfortunately, it took about 3 weeks longer to get it done, meanwhile, honestly I’m getting nervous – my client called me with her husband on the line and they were concerned as well.

I reassured her that I knew these guys would close & that her case was very solid!

She explained the situation with the credit cards and her inability to use them.

I coached her on how to explain the importance of intent. The whole reason we are applying for multiple forms of funding is to complete the rehab at any cost!

This is your future business location. And until you complete the rehab, you are losing time & money.

Use the unsecured funds to pay your contractors and buy material, when this refi goes through, pay the lines of credit off! But have faith.

She complained that she felt bad bringing her parents into it and that she wanted to stop altogether! She was very discouraged.

I reminded her why she started! You are trying to provide a better lifestyle for your family and it requires sacrifice and your dad stepped up to help his little girl!

Don’t fail him by quitting in the middle of your plan! Continue to execute.

And she did.

Over the next couple weeks waiting in anticipation she racked up some hefty invoices from her contractor and was prepared to pay them via her unsecured credit when BOOM suddenly “Clear to Close” came across our emails, with loan docs and estimated HUD for review and signing to be completed a few days later.

Conclusion:

The process taught her a lot about financing, she learned how to qualify for fix/flip and buy/hold loans, as well as unsecured funding.

She had her father add her as an authorized user on all of the trade lines, so now she’ll get her own cards for easy access, she’ll build her credit score through positive history (piggy-backing) and paying all of the lines down again!

She received $90k unsecured financing in 3 weeks, then $75,000 3-4 weeks later @ 12% for 12 months, she received a lump sum at the table, and she has submitted a couple draws already for reimbursement. You complete the work – submit an invoice after you (take before /after pictures), then the 3rd party company reviews, approves and wires the money to your business account in 24-48 hrs.

She now has 6 trade lines that added $90k to her ratios, and if she keeps utilization down under 30%-40% it’ll raise her score to 700+ also with another mortgage trade line, she would be soon staring at an 800+ fico score!

Because we added her dad to the LLC, I’m focused next on helping them create a strong business profile with multiple business lines of credit of $200k-$500k over the next 12 months. These lines will allow them 100% access to borrowing down on the lines without affecting their business credit rating! She can open another daycare center by early 2019, or flip some properties in the area (if they choose).

Finally, since she’s been working on the property the whole time, she estimates being complete with the Refi by mid-January, immediately applying for the refinance into the 30-yr. fixed. The lender has already reviewed her property details, personal credit and financials and pre-approved them, additionally since the 1st payment isn’t due until January for the current loan, she has a great chance to only make 1-2 payments at 12%.

In the end, my team and I were successful at providing a couple rounds of funding for a well-deserved client. We have a long-term solution in place that she can self-sustain and scale up if preferred.

At Fix and Flippers, we approach each potential deal on a case-by-case basis. It’s helpful to remember that we are very active in the market and possess resources that may not be advertised or previously mentioned.

We help clients with credit repair, credit enhancements, traditional and non-traditional funding, both secured and unsecured. We pair up investors to structure successful joint venture partnerships.

We prefer an on-going working relationship with our clients to offer advice, consulting and resources.

We welcome Brokers and Facilitators to partner with us. You will be protected.

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What an amazing year for private funding, hard money, commercial funding, equity funding, business funding, unsecured funding; all kinds of capital for many purposes.

Lenders are stepping up to make loans in ravaged areas in Florida & Texas, as well as nationwide in major urban areas.

Fix and Flippers works with key lending partners to provide the best loan terms and flexible structures so investors have multiple options for leveraging their hard-earned capital.

The climate of private lending has changed because competition has greatly increased, also the influx of 1st-time flippers hungry to get a piece of the pie has produced a perfect storm: lots of inexperienced & unqualified applicants to pre-screen and underwrite – it’s a very expensive operation if you have your underwriters, processors, and assistants burning through hours of documents if they don’t lead to real closes with ROI for the investors involved & for the brokers who bring the business.

This has resulted in more restrictive requirements for approval such as Fico score minimums – from my experience, they question why a successful businessperson who is worthy of a risk of $100k-$1M wouldn’t be able to pay even $1000 to repair and clean up their credit? Also, please don’t mention 2008 or the past economic events – they don’t want to hear that! It’s 2017.. Bottom line – without 650+ fico scores expect high-interest rates (9-12%) and lower LTV’s due to you being a credit risk (80%-85% LTV max)

What mitigates your credit score IF you have a great explanation? (like a recent credit event within the past 2 months caused your score to swan-dive)

Having lots of experience (recent experience) again, don’t mention 2008 or prior…and most lenders may look the other way and consider you a better risk.

What if you don’t have recent experience and your score is not 650+? Then I’d be prepared to bring 15% down-payment, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be seasoned or sourced, but it has to be documented..so have a statement to prove you have it.

Also, I have a great contact that I use for credit repair and authorized user trade lines (I know the account holders) – just ask me for those referrals!

What if you have no experience, and have no down-payment, but have good credit 680+ fico? I’d suggest you apply for my unsecured-credit program to raise up to $250,000 unsecured credit lines/cards in 1-2 weeks to create a 100% financing scenario!

If you are a great candidate– have completed multiple flips and/or rental purchase/acquisitions within the past 24 months, 650+ fico, and 3-6 months of interest reserves in your bank account, I can roll out the red carpet for you in most cases: 90% LTC or 90% purchase, 100% of rehab, luxury spec builds/construction to $2M-$50M, commercial refinances with cash-out or purchase 75%-80%, even small loans from $50k.

Niche Loans: Gap Loans – These are 2nd TD loans that we make behind our 1st TD’s, never others. We will gap great candidates with lots of deal flow that have experience, capital, average to good credit and the deal must be in an urban area and pencil at or under 65% of ARV (after-repaired-value) Lots of our lenders make loans nationwide.

We can make QUICK (3-5 day loans) against Free/Clear properties up to 50% LTV, max loan is $50k, the minimum is $5,000!

EMD funding – If you need Earnest Money Deposit funding – Not a loan, but allows you to use investor money for 30 days in escrow protected by an addendum added to the contract. Complete your deal, pay the funds back!

With my 16th year in real estate, I’d consider myself a massive resource center, and its hard to turn those contacts into a commodity, I hope points & rates won’t keep the best candidates from reaching out! Most of the time, I only give the best deals to people whom I have done business with (broke bread) once we feed each other, I know we have a mutually beneficial relationship.

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We are a high-end construction rehab team consisting of an experienced General Contractor of 20+ years, Real Estate Agent with 10 years experience & Marketing Executive with 15 years experience.

We are in the business of locating, privately funding (through trust deed lenders) luxury rehab projects throughout the Los Angeles area. We are well experienced with all phases of rehab and construction including basic kitchen/bathroom remodels, swimming pools, windows, smooth finish stucco, landscaping and complete demo/scrape/ground-up construction.

We are always in the market for off-market fix/flip candidates that we can either add square footage, repurpose, re-zone, sub-divide or improve for a profit. We’ll look at anything that has upside.

If you are looking for a dependable, fair contractor that’s licensed, bonded & insured to manage your project, or manage your contractors & sub-contractors, contact us! We can also provide the initial SOW (Scope of Work) to your lender and be your experienced contractor to help you qualify for ARV loans!

Right now reinforcing & replacing the fittings in your home can be important if you have an older home, since we live in an earthquake State! We can help with this!

We can provide one-on-one mentoring for 1st-time flippers, women are welcome to contact us!

If you’re interested in becoming a gap partner or trust deed investor, let me know, we constantly have opportunities to fund. We can keep your funds moving.

Here are some projects completed and shows our work..

9222 Bartley Ave Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670

Purchased on 3/21 for $350K,

Sold 9/16 for $500k after investing $50K rehab.

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653 Tularosa Dr. Silver Lake, CA 90026

Purchased 3/15/15 for $625K, Invested $250K rehab

Sold for $1,350,000 on Apr 12, 2017

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4083 Sea View Ave Los Angeles, CA 90065

Purchased 8/24/16 for $1,150,000 With a rehab budget of $300,000. Currently in construction with 60 days remaining.

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We currently have this tied up and ready to wholesale to an end buyer.
The buyer would need to replace our $15,000 EMD ASAP. They need to close by end of month.

We’ve walked this property and I can introduce the buyer to the President of the Laurel Canyon Association – this will help the overall process. He is also a land-use attorney specializing in permitting.

The property has some issues and has been condemned by the City. The buyer would have to assume this responsibility.